Not Nice Ice

I should have stayed in Arizona!

CRACK! Another tree limb succumbs to the icy weight and crashes to the ground. The Ohio Valley is covered with ice, and now snow is falling on top of it. The office opens at 10:00 today, and a co-worker with 4WD who lives nearby will come to get me. I hope we get brownie points for making the effort. Over 75,000 people in the metro area are without power, and I hold my breath each time the lights flicker. Before we get too far, we get word that the firm has closed for the day, and we should all stay home.

All three pines in the back yard have been topped by the ice. I reassure my husband - now we can have more woodpecker condos. One limb fell on our nice swing smashing it.

Our son has no power at his apartment, so we invite him to bring the cat and come stay with us, if he can get his car out. We are short on disaster supplies though. The thistle feeder is down to the last inch of seed, and the empty seed jug sits by the door to remind us to get more. When the snowplows scrape the street in our subdivision, they pile it up in front of the driveway so you can not get past that big barrier. We shoveled just the ends of the driveway so son/daughter can at least find it if they come to stay. Don't we have some salt in the garage? Maybe in the shed, but it's iced closed. Same for extra firewood, which would be good for heating the basement should our power go out. The basement has no windows and holds the heat pretty well from a fire. The Ohio Valley tends to move weather systems either north or south of us, and despite the storm warnings it isn't so bad here in Louisville. People rush to the store for milk and bread, and then the storm doesn't really affect us that much. This time the weather man was not crying Wolf!

Let's take a walk around the block, now that it's light enough for pictures. Here's an example of why the conifers in the mountains are tall and skinny - it helps them survive all that snow, while broad branched pine branches break from the weight.

Heard a story this morning of a house that caught fire when branches fell on a transformer, which then burst into flames, catching the house on fire too.

Small icicles can be very pretty, but let's keep them small. Hope all of you are safe and warm.